The City Planning Commission of New York has approved the project proposed by the firm Snøhetta as part of the partial reconstruction of the Sony Building at 550 Madison Avenue. The architectural studio emphasizes that the decision was taken unanimously by the members of the commission. The planned changes will affect the base of the tower and the “arcade” annex, where Snøhetta proposes to set up a multi-level mini-park. In addition, the interior of the lobby will be completely redesigned, but another firm, Gensler, is working on this. The renovated office building is going to be commissioned this year.
Now adjacent to the tower
The "arcade" with cafes and shops and glass ceilings looks rather unattractive (and not at all relevant) and is not popular with the townspeople. The architects intend to expand it and turn it into a green oasis with lots of plants, places for recreation and a mini waterfall. More than 40 trees are planned to be planted alone; now there is not one.
After the reconstruction, the area of the covered public space next to the skyscraper (de facto behind it, away from the noisy Madison Avenue) will increase by one and a half times, to almost 2000 m2, for the sake of this, some of the "unnecessary" buildings will be removed. The result will be a semblance of a backyard, which can be accessed from the lobby of the skyscraper and from the parallel 55th and 56th streets - each has a separate entrance. From bad weather the park will be covered with a glass canopy.
As you can see on the plan, the garden is divided into small round areas that dictate the trajectory of movement to visitors. Looped routes and the absence of through passages, according to the authors, should slow down the movement of pedestrians. In addition, this "geometry" is a direct reference to the work of Philip Johnson. This motif is also present in the Sony Building (these include the "Chippendale" pediment, like a cabinet, and "porthole" windows at the base), and in other works of the architect.
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Image 
zooming 1/3 550 Madison Avenue © Snøhetta
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zooming 2/3 550 Madison Avenue © Snøhetta
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zooming 3/3 550 Madison Avenue © Snøhetta
The new square, according to Snøhetta, will help reconnect the postmodern skyscraper with context and fill the shortage of green spaces in eastern Mid Manhattan. In a sense, Snøhetta reproduces the traditional New York format called a “pocket park” - a tiny green area bounded on three sides by the walls of houses. For areas with expensive land and high building density, this is often the only option available.
Note that the first version of the Snøhetta project was presented in the fall of 2017. Then the architects proposed to partially replace the stone facade with a glass one. The solution received a lot of negative feedback, we wrote more about this story
here.
In 2018, the 1984 postmodern skyscraper was granted monument status, becoming the youngest government-protected landmark in New York City. Snøhetta had to abandon the festooned translucent structure and focus on landscape design. Note that only the "shell" of the building fell under the protection of the state.
The 197-meter-high skyscraper on Madison Avenue originally served as the headquarters for the telecommunications company AT&T. In the 1990s, Sony moved in as a tenant, and in 2002 it bought the entire skyscraper. In 2013 Sony sold the property to the development company Chetrit Group. The current owner, investor company Olayan Group, acquired the tower in 2016 for $ 1.4 billion.
